Epidemiologic insights into pediatric kidney stone disease

The epidemiology of pediatric kidney stone has not yet been as rigorously defined as that of adult kidney stone disease. Herein, we review our recent epidemiologic works characterizing pediatric stone disease using the Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID). Specifically we investigated the age and gender distribution of pediatric kidney stone disease, changes in disease prevalence over time, and medical comorbidities associated with this disorder. We identified patients by International Classification of Disease 9th Edition (ICD-9) codes for renal and ureteral calculi as the primary diagnosis. Medical comorbidities were identified using specific comorbidity software. Statistical comparisons between children with and without stone disease were performed. In the first decade of life, stone disease was more prevalent among males than females; however, in the second decade of life females were more commonly affected. Of note, there was a significant increase in treated stone disease across both genders between 1997 and 2003. We also found that the risk of kidney stone diagnosis in children younger than 6 years of age was significantly associated with hypertension and diabetes mellitus. The gender distribution among pediatric stone formers varies significantly by age, although overall females have a greater prevalence than males. There is also a strong association of stone disease and both diabetes and hypertension, although this was only observed in children less than 6 years of age. Taken all together, these findings suggest that urolithiasis in the young child is a complex systemic disease process.